The fall of man into sin and the result
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📚Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Really 📖, did God say, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’”3:1 This serpent was unlike present-day snakes. It was the most clever of all animals and apparently, until God’s curse came on it (v 14), did not crawl on its belly as snakes do now. Here it seems clear that Satan, the chief of demons, was using the serpent and speaking through it. In the Bible the serpent is a symbolic name of Satan himself (2 Cor 11:3; Rev 12:9; 20:2). Satan, not literal snakes, tempts people to sin and disobey God (Matt 4:3; 1 Thess 3:5). Note on Satan at 1 Chron 21:1.⚜
2 📚And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 📚but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
3:3 She added to God’s words. See Prov 30:6.⚜
4 📚And the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 📚For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”.
3:4-5 John 8:44; Rev 12:9. Satan contradicted the word God gave in Gen 2:17. Satan tempts men and destroys them by telling them lies about God, about themselves and about reality. He also tempts by putting some illusion of good or greatness before men. He tried to persuade the woman that God was withholding some good they might gain by listening to himself. So we learn the method Satan uses to ruin human beings – he denies God’s Word, tells lies, and promises some pleasure or false good. See v 22 also. “God” (v 5) – the KJV has “gods”. The Hebrew word here (elohim) can mean either God or gods, but “God” is surely a better translation in this place. The word “gods” is used in the Bible to indicate the false gods worshiped by some people in the world, but when the serpent said this to Eve, there were no other people in the world and no gods. So when she heard the word “elohim” she could only think of the one true God. Even if there had been other gods, Eve, before the fall, would not have been tempted to become like them. But the suggestion she could become like God could have been very appealing to her.⚜
6 📚And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate it, and also gave some to her husband with her. And he ate it.
3:6 See 1 Tim 2:14; Jam 1:14-15; 1 John 2:16; Rom 5:12-19. This one sin changed the whole character of man, the whole course of the world. See Gen 6:5; 8:21. Sin is disobedience to God’s Word, rebellion against almighty God, a lack of conformity to His principles. It is acting from self according to one’s own desires contrary to God’s word and will. See 1 John 3:4; 5:17; Jam 4:17; Rom 14:23; Prov 24:9. The man was drawn into sin by his wife. Temptations that come through the marriage relationship can be very strong. Adam was not deceived (1 Tim 2:14) but knowingly disobeyed God and followed his wife’s suggestion.⚜
7 📚And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
3:7 In Gen 2:17 God said they would die on the day they ate of that fruit. That day they did not die physically, but they did die spiritually. This appears in the following verses. Also the process of degeneration which results in physical death began that day (see Rom 5:12). Here in v 7 we see the death of innocence. Man’s reaction to his sin and guilt was shame which he tried to cover and hide. The outward act spoke of an inner spiritual experience.⚜
8 📚And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking 📖 in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 📚And the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
3:9 Of course God knew where Adam was and what he had done, but He wanted Adam to speak out and confess his sin.⚜
10 📚And he said, “I heard the sound you made in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself”.
3:10 Here is the first mention of fear in the Bible. Sin brings fear of discovery and of God’s presence (John 3:20). It is also true that all the many fears which afflict mankind have their origin in man’s first sin.⚜
11 📚And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 📚And the man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate”.
3:12 Guilty man at once tried to shift the responsibility for his action onto someone else. Actually Adam was trying to blame God for his sin. It is as though he was saying “God, it’s your fault. You gave this woman to me”.⚜
13 📚And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate”.
3:13 The woman speaks as her husband did. She means “It’s not my fault. The serpent deceived me. And after all who made the serpent?” Trying to escape responsibility for one’s sins by putting the blame for them on someone else has been man’s way from that day to this. But God does not accept such excuses.⚜
14 📚And the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. You will go about on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.
3:14 Sin brought a curse on all the world. The earth is not the same as it was before Adam’s fall (v 17; Rom 8:19-22).⚜
15 📚And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring 📖. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel”.
3:15 Here is the first promise of a Saviour for fallen man. He would be born of the woman (the man is not mentioned here. Many scholars think this signifies the virgin birth of Christ. See Isa 7:14; Matt 1:22-23; Gal 4:5). The Saviour will be the bruiser of Satan’s head – that is, He will destroy Satan and his works (Rom 16:20; Heb 2:14; 1 John 3:8). The final overthrow of Satan is seen in the last book of the Bible (Rev 20:10). The serpent was to bruise the heel of the Saviour. He could hurt and wound Him but not destroy Him. And the wounding of the Saviour was for man’s benefit (Isa 53:5; 1 Pet 2:24).⚜
16 📚To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your suffering in childbirth 📖. In pain you will bear children. And your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you”.
3:16 Since the fall of human beings into sin, woman is to be in subjection to the man (Eph 5:22; Col 3:18; 1 Tim 2:11-15; 1 Pet 3:1-5).⚜
17 📚And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife, and ate of the tree concerning which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’, the ground is cursed on your account; in painful toil 📖 you will eat its produce all the days of your life. 18 📚It will also bring forth thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 📚In the sweat of your face you will eat bread, until you return to the ground; for you were taken from it; for you are dust and you will return to dust”.
20 📚And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21 📚The LORD God also made garments of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
3:21 It seems very probable that there is a picture here of God’s way of salvation by sacrifice and grace. Man’s attempts to hide his guilt and shame cannot succeed. He is not fit to stand before God in his own works. God Himself killed an innocent animal and clothed Adam and Eve. Much later in history God came in the person of Christ and died for sinners. He clothes those who come to Him in His own righteousness. What man is by nature is described in Isa 64:6. By God’s grace he can have a perfect covering (Isa 61:10; 1 Cor 1:30). See notes on justification at Gen 15:6; Rom 1:17; 3:21-26; 4:5, 23-25.⚜
22 📚And the LORD God said, “See, the man has become like one of us 📖, to know good and evil. And now, he must not put out his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever 📖
3:22 This verse shows that there was some truth in the serpent’s words in v 5. This is Satan’s method – to mix lies with truth to make it seem more attractive and believable. By sinning man did not become like God in God’s holy character – in fact, just the opposite of that happened. But in the one matter of knowing good and evil man became like his Creator.⚜
23 📚Therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 📚So he drove the man out, and at the east of the of the garden of Eden he placed cherubim 📖 and a flaming sword which turned every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life.
3:23-24 Man has lost paradise because sin and Paradise are mutually exclusive. Men must choose one or the other; they cannot have both (Rev 22:14). Man has not risen from lower forms of life. In Adam he has fallen from a higher state of life. Adam is the representative and progenitor of all mankind (Rom 5:12-19). He lost paradise for us all. The Bible is the story of God’s way of preparing man for Paradise again.⚜